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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/sri-lanka-economic-crisis-china-debt-trap-2626976?cid=FBcna&fbclid=IwAR3rVgAi-sCE5t3Emdlfnn_XszVT2i9AnrtVKcThOyxRyYFMp0qyb9JHueA MUMBAI: The island nation of Sri Lanka is in the midst of one of the worst economic crises it’s ever seen. It has just defaulted on its foreign debts for the first time since its independence, and the country’s 22 million people are facing crippling 12-hour power cuts and an extreme scarcity of food, fuel and other essential items, such as medicines. Inflation is at an all-time high of 17.5 per cent, with prices of food items such as a kilogram of rice soaring to 500 Sri Lankan rupees (US$1.56) when it would normally cost around 80 rupees (US$0.25). Amid shortages, one 400g packet of milk powder is reported to cost over 250 rupees (US$0.78), when it usually costs around 60 rupees (US$0.19). On Apr 1, President Gotabaya Rajpaksha declared a state of emergency. In less than a week, he withdrew it following massive protests by angry citizens over the government’s handling of the crisis. The country relies on the import of many essential items including petrol, food items and medicines. Most countries will keep foreign currencies on hand in order to trade for these items, but a shortage of foreign exchange in Sri Lanka is being blamed for the sky-high prices. IS SRI LANKA CRISIS BECAUSE OF CHINA RELATIONS? Many believe that Sri Lanka’s economic relations with China are the main driver behind the crisis. The United States has called this phenomenon “debt-trap diplomacy”. This is where a creditor country or institution extends debt to a borrowing nation to increase the lender’s political leverage – if the borrower extends itself and cannot pay the money back, they are at the creditor’s mercy. However, loans from China accounted for only about 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt in 2020. The largest portion – about 30 per cent – can be attributed to international sovereign bonds. Japan actually accounts for a higher proportion of their foreign debt, at 11 per cent. Defaults over China’s infrastructure-related loans to Sri Lanka, especially the financing of the Hambantota port, are being cited as factors contributing to the crisis. But these facts don’t add up. The construction of the Hambantota port was financed by the Chinese Exim Bank. The port was running losses, so Sri Lanka leased out the port for 99 years to the Chinese Merchant’s Group, which paid Sri Lanka US$1.12 billion. So the Hambantota port fiasco did not lead to a balance of payments crisis (where more money or exports are going out than coming in), it actually bolstered Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves by US$1.12 billion. So, what are the real reasons for the crisis? IMF LOANS COME WITH CHALLENGING CONDITIONS Post-independence from the British in 1948, Sri Lanka’s agriculture was dominated by export-oriented crops such as tea, coffee, rubber and spices. A large share of its gross domestic product came from the foreign exchange earned from exporting these crops. That money was used to import essential food items. Over the years, the country also began exporting garments and earning foreign exchange from tourism and remittances (money sent into Sri Lanka from abroad, perhaps by family members). Any decline in exports would come as an economic shock and put foreign exchange reserves under strain. For this reason, Sri Lanka frequently encountered balance of payments crises. From 1965 onwards, it obtained 16 loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Each of these loans came with conditions including that, once Sri Lanka received the loan, it had to reduce its budget deficit, maintain a tight monetary policy, cut government subsidies for food for the people of Sri Lanka and depreciate the currency (so exports would become more viable). But usually, in periods of economic downturns, good fiscal policy dictates that governments should spend more to inject stimulus into the economy. This becomes impossible with the IMF conditions. Despite this situation, the IMF loans kept coming, and a beleaguered economy soaked up more and more debt. The last IMF loan to Sri Lanka was in 2016. The country received US$1.5 billion for three years from 2016 to 2019. The conditions were familiar, and the economy’s health nosedived over this period. Growth, investments, savings and revenues fell, while the debt burden rose. DID SRI LANKA GOVERNMENT MAKE FATAL MISTAKES? A bad situation turned worse with two economic shocks in 2019. First, there was a series of bomb blasts in churches and luxury hotels in Colombo in April 2019. The blasts led to a steep decline in tourist arrivals – with some reports stating up to an 80 per cent drop – and drained foreign exchange reserves. Second, the new government under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa irrationally cut taxes. Value-added tax rates (akin to some nations’ goods and services taxes) were cut from 15 per cent to 8 per cent. Other indirect taxes such as the nation-building tax, the pay-as-you-earn tax and economic service charges were abolished. Corporate tax rates were reduced from 28 per cent to 24 per cent. About 2 per cent of the gross domestic product was lost in revenues because of these tax cuts. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In April 2021, the Rajapaksa government made another fatal mistake. To prevent the drain of foreign exchange reserves, all fertiliser imports were completely banned. Sri Lanka was declared a 100 per cent organic farming nation. This policy, which was withdrawn in November 2021, led to a drastic fall in agricultural production and more imports became necessary. But foreign exchange reserves remained under strain. A fall in the productivity of tea and rubber due to the ban on fertiliser also led to lower export incomes. Due to lower export incomes, there was less money available to import food and food shortages arose. Because there is less food and other items to buy, but no decrease in demand, the prices for these goods rise. In February 2022, inflation rose to 17.5 per cent. In all probability, Sri Lanka will now obtain a 17th IMF loan to tide over the present crisis, which will come with fresh conditions. A deflationary fiscal policy will be followed, which will further limit the prospects of economic revival and exacerbate the sufferings of the Sri Lankan people.

Epic fail...gives advice but at the end still faces such a dilemma..think most business people reads his book and some advices are quite good...but how come he faces such a situation Article Rich Dad, Poor Dad now a bankrupt dad: Best-selling author files for corporate bankruptcy after losing $24m judgement The financial guru behind New York Times bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad has filed for bankruptcy on one of his companies after losing a $24 million judgement. This April, Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Global LLC was ordered to pay $23,687,957.21 to the Learning Annex and its founder and chairman, Bill Zanker. Kiyosaki had used the Learning Annex platform to organize several high profile speaking engagements, including a 2002 appearance at Madison Square Garden.....

https://jalopnik.com/hertzs-late-night-bankruptcy-filing-sends-ripples-throu-1843628287

its my favourite also … no wonder cant find it recently in the supermarts ... ‘It’s the end of the world!’: Hong Kong netizens upset that US sausage company has declared bankruptcy Let’s be frank, chicken frank. Even with the ongoing China/US trade war, rarely does economic news out of the ol’ US of A rattle Hongkongers. Well, until now. Panic has erupted — well at the very least some concern has been expressed online — after reports that the US company which makes some of the city’s favorite chicken franks, aka chicken sausages, aka “Valley Chef” sausages, has gone belly up. Announced earlier this month, Zacky Farms, a California-based food production company, filed for bankruptcy protection. The news started causing concern recently when online reports emerged suggesting company’s chicken frank sausages could disappear from supermarket shelves altogether following the bankruptcy filing. You see, Zacky Farms distribute the sausages via a Hong Kong-based subsidiary called Dah Chong Hong Ltd under the brand Valley Chef. For years they have been a staple in Hongkongers’ breakfasts, hotpots, barbecues, and afternoon teas. Check out this commercial from 1987 showing how they can be used to prepare “western-style dishes”, like, sausage on a steak… According to The Business Journal, the company made the filing after it emerged that it was shutting down its poultry processing plants in Stockton and Fresno, and eliminating 475 jobs. The bankruptcy petition lists estimated assets as well as debts in the range of US$50 million to US$100 million, which could spell the end for the company, and could also mean that Hongkongers may have to say goodbye to their little processed friends. According to HK01, netizens left comments on online forum HKGolden expressing their distress. “No Valley Chef, no life”, said one freaked-out Hongkonger. “It’s the end of the world!” typed another, before presumably running around in circles in a mindless panic. Others have been posting photos of the sausages in supermarkets around the city on sale. A chef surnamed Mak told on.cc: “I’ve been cooking with those sausages for about 20 years, if I have to switch brands, people will notice and say ‘chef, why don’t you have Valley Chef sausages? These taste different’.”

interesting read of how Nissan turned their fortunes around by ceding the reins of the company to Mr Carlos Ghosn, which was unthinkable for a Jap company... http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/outsider-rescued-nissan-brink-bankruptcy-carlos-ghosn-9462320

once a famous Italian club along with Juventus, Roma, Inter, AC Milan, Lazio produced or had many outstanding players like Gianfranco Zola, Dino Baggio, Fabio Cannavaro, Hernan Crespo, Lilian Thuram, Gianluca Buffon, etc etc now bankrupt, relegated and dissolved... officially no more in existence

Any bankruptcy case related to used car purchase ? As we all know the actual value of all these pre own are very low compare to paid for ! In the event of difficulty from paying of monthly installment , what will be happening to the owner ?

Wow! That is news! Tenasek can buy over?

As above. http://www.outlet.com.sg/feature-business

Jialat. So this is true. http://app.supremecourt.gov.sg/data/doc/Ma...12-2006(bp).pdf The court application for bankruptcy was dated december 2006 as above. The Straits Times article said Foo, her husband and her children all moved to Thailand in the same year 2006! Were they running away from the debt? http://www.asiaone.com/Business/Office/Lea...0908-86525.html Too coincidental isn't it? Your PDF file found : B3197/2006/B STANDARD CHARTERED BANK CHAN TECK HOCK BERNARD Bankruptcy Order Click Chan Teck Hock name @ http://kohjb.0catch.com/FamilyNet/KohNet/index.html Got below info. : Chan Teck Hock Bernard Bernard's Family Spouse: Foo Mee Har (Married) Children: Chan Martin, Chan Matthew

[extract] We all know that Saab has filed for bankruptcy and the future of the Swedish automaker is uncertain. Swedish laws allow a bankrupt company to come out of bankruptcy if someone or some company injects the necessary amount of money in order to save it. There were reports that the Turkish government might be interested in the Swedish company. And at the same time, Chinese company Youngman has acquired Saab

[extract] Over the past several days, many incidents happened with regards to the news of Saab

hi all, my friend is hovering ard the idea of getting himself declared as a bankrupt as he cant afford repayments over his loans..could i jus enquire if his car can be trf to his dad wout his dad incurring his loan as it's still under the term loan as he jus bought it 6mths ago..he dont wan to lose it as he spend quite some money on refurnishing it though..any advices? thks on behalf of my friend..

By Lee Su Shyan, Assistant Money Editor, Reuters LOCAL businessman Oei Hong Leong - dubbed the 'man with the Midas touch' - lost a whopping $1 billion on foreign exchange and US Treasury bond transactions last year. While he has fully paid off these losses, he is now suing Citigroup's private banking arm in the High Court for negligence and misrepresentation, legal documents seen by The Straits Times reveal. Mr Oei claims that the bank - with which he has a 30-year relationship - repeatedly gave him an inaccurate picture of his trading exposure, causing him to take on more positions than he would have otherwise done so. A spokesman from Citi told Reuters in an email: 'We believe that the claim is without merit and we fully intend to defend our position vigorously.' It declined to comment further on the matter. There was no immediate comment available from Oei's office. Oei was ranked Singapore's 29th richest person by Forbes last year with a net worth of $210 million. Forbes calculated Oei's wealth based on his stakes in publicly traded companies and in private company filings. According to Straits Times, Oei claimed he felt compelled to close his positions at an extremely volatile time in October last year, taking huge losses, as he felt he had no choice after discovering the full extent of his exposure. Some angry Asian private banking clients have filed lawsuits after losing money on complex financial products battered in a global market meltdown last year, forcing the industry into damage control. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- so he's worth 210 million. but loses 1 billion...so what gonna happened to him?

A friend of mine due to some reasons have loss a hefty sum from properties in the past. The properties were forced sell hence resulting in hardship . He managed to get by for years by getting credit lines and credit cards to pay for the loss, he has since reduced the debt to about 200K. Whatever he has earned go to paying the credit lines through monthly instalment. He told me that he is just 36 months away from being debt free. However, his current company is folding up due to current market situation hence he is extremely depressed . There is only so much that I could lend it to him in the past. At his age, if he is being retrenched, he is unlikely to even get 1/3 of what he is getting now. This is sad but a true case. I wonder whether to declare bankrupt is a better choice for him . So wonder what is the best course of action that we could advise him. I heard that there are some debt consolidation firms that could help him, anyone has experience working with them? Are there any free public bodies that he can seek advice and to help him with the hardship? By the way, I'm seeking constructive advice here please don't give nasty remarks . Thank you very much for being considerate. Regards,

Videos were from 2007....

http://www.tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,172738...8319140,00.html? whoa.....bankrupt still can drive bmw ah

THIS man was a country club member for a day. And he says it cost him about $31,000 Retired police officer Chua Chee Choon, 56, was also made a bankrupt for seven years. The 10-year saga finally came to an end recently when he settled with various creditors. In November 1997, he accepted an offer to join the Admiralty Resort and Country Club during a club membership drive at Capitol Cinema. The club is no longer in existence. Mr Chua was told he needed to put down a $2,000 deposit and pay the balance of a promotional membership fee of $24,000 in instalments. The deal came with an overdraft facility provided by the Bank of Singapore, a subsidiary of the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC). And he was supposed to pay the bank $300 a month for seven years. He said he was told he could cancel his membership within two weeks, but would have to forfeit the deposit. 'I told the promoter I needed to visit the club before confirming my purchase, but after she assured me of the window period, I decided to sign up and pay the deposit,' said Mr Chua. After checking out the club a day later, he decided against joining. He claimed he told the club he wanted to cancel his membership and forgo the deposit as agreed. INFORMED BANK According to him, he also informed the bank the same day that he was pulling out. He could not show us any documents to verify this. Mr Chua said he thought that was the end of the matter, but he later got letters from the bank asking him to pay the balance of the membership fee. On 19 Jan 1998, Mr Chua paid the bank $1,000 as 'goodwill' money as it said he was still liable for the contract and had signed the letter of offer. He later paid another $500 as 'goodwill' to the bank, on 5 Aug 1998, but did not get any documentary proof that the issue had been settled. The bank said it never told Mr Chua it would waive the balance after he paid the 'goodwill money'. The bank later filed a writ of summons against him for $28,100. Mr Chua claimed that the bank's law firm got a judgment against him and proceeded with a bankruptcy order without his knowledge. In an affidavit filed later to get the bankruptcy annulled, he said: 'I only knew I had been made a bankrupt in 2001, when SingTel and the Public Utilities Board wrote to me to tell me they were closing their accounts with me as I had been declared a bankrupt. I was told to transfer my accounts to my wife's name, which I did.' Mr Chua was declared a bankrupt on 23 Mar 2001. He said he used to earn about $7,000 a month, including bonuses, as a police inspector, till he took early retirement in 2000. His 47-year-old wife earns about $3,000 monthly, working for a statutory board. TWO DISABLED CHILDREN They have four children aged 15 to 25. The younger two are disabled and study in special schools. After retiring, Mr Chua said he planned to start a security firm but his bankruptcy prevented him from starting a company under his name. In May 2002, Mr Chua started work as a service technician but he was retrenched about 16 months later. He said: 'After I was retrenched, I was unable to find a job. I had to rely on part-time jobs and my savings and retirement gratuity, which was between $300,000 and $400,000. We had to re-budget our living expenses, let our maid go and sell our car.' Mr Chua was even prepared to sell his Jurong West executive maisonette and downgrade to a smaller home. However, he added: 'I had no problems paying my bills, just that they were done in my wife's name. But I felt bad at not being able to provide things for my children, and being unable to go on holidays every year like we used to.' In 2001, Mr Chua had complained to the Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office (IPTO) that he was wrongly adjudged a bankrupt. IGNORED ADVICE A spokesman for the Official Assignee (OA) said the IPTO advised Mr Chua to hire a lawyer to set aside or annul the bankruptcy order as well as to approach his creditors to clarify the matter, but he ignored their advice until 2006. On 22 Jun 2006, Mr Chua learned that the OA had summoned him to court on 6 Jan 2003 for not filing his statement of affairs - his financial details and history - on time. He claimed he never received the summons. He handed in the statement on 17 Jul 2006. On 26 Oct last year, Mr Chua's lawyer, Mr A P Thirumurthy, applied to High Court Assistant Registrar Jason Chan to set aside the bankruptcy order. The application was dismissed. On 10 Jan this year, Mr Thirumurthy appealed against this decision to Justice Andrew Ang, who dismissed the appeal because of the 'inordinate delay' and advised Mr Chua to settle out of court with his creditors. He also advised the bank's lawyers to take a sympathetic view as Mr Chua had lost his rights for more than six years. After negotiations, Mr Chua paid $10,000 to OCBC. He also settled unpaid credit card and utility bills totalling about $3,000 with Citibank, DBS and SP Services. Along with the initial deposit, the 'goodwill' money and his legal fees, he paid about $31,000 in all. The OA finally annulled his bankruptcy order on 18 Apr. Is Joining Country Club So GOOD ?

Read today ST on Malaysia Election and stated : PAS gets lucky start in stronghold. Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) started off on a lucky footing in its defence of Kelantan yesterday when a woman candidate won a walkover for a state seat after her opponent was unexpectedly disqualified. Senator Wan Ubaidah Omar, 52, was declared the winner by the returning officer at the nomination centre in the Kelantan capital, after Mr Mustopha Ahmed from Barisan Nasional (BN) was found to be a bankrupt. BN officials said they would look into how background checks on Mr Mustopha, who is a State Telekom Malaysia director, did not show up the potential problem. Mr Mustopha admitted standing as a guarantor for a loan taken by his friend a few years ago. "Actually, my case as a guarantor had been settled. I will refer my case to my lawyer and party adviser for further action," he said That's is life in the land of the BOLEHs.................

Noob question...can an undischarged bankrupt, be eligible for election as a member of a council (of a management corporation of a private condo) if his status (as an undischarged bankrupt) is declared in writing, by himself or another person during nomination? Any idea is this is alrite, legal, etc...Thank u